Skin is our largest organ and the one that ages the most conspicuously—especially in the facial region. Often, a person's facial appearance determines the viewer's perception of that person's age.
A major area of focus for the cosmetic industry is the improvement of facial appearance. This improvement can be understood to relate to both the protection of the skin, to prevent damage caused by environmental conditions, and also to rejuvenation of the skin, to ameliorate damage which has occurred. Skin rejuvenation products are often referred to as “anti-aging” products.
While skin protection products are well known, such as topical sunblocks and moisturizers, effective skin rejuvenation or anti-aging products are not so common, and such existing products present room for improvement. Accordingly, there remains a need for safe and effective skin rejuvenation or anti-aging products and improved methods for their delivery.
One reason that the need for skin rejuvenation or anti-aging products remains unfulfilled may be that the current prevailing approach used in the cosmetic industry is naïve, consisting in applying selected active ingredients onto the epiderm, a protective barrier which specifically functions to prevent penetration and seal off the organism from the outside world. Further, even if the active ingredient is able to penetrate the epidermal barrier and reach the level of the dermal-epidermal junction, it has still only reached the very surface of the problem area. This is because in great part, skin aging is the consequence of processes unfolding in the most internal part of the integumentary system, the hypodermis, which is also known as the hypoderm, subcutaneous tissue, or superficial fascia. Here, “integumentary” means cutaneous, while “integument” means “skin and its derivatives.” The hypodermis is the lowermost layer of the integumentary system, which, for the face is composed of fibrous bands anchoring the skin to the deep fascia, fat, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, hair follicle roots, sudiferous gland structures, nerves and facial expression (panniculus carnosus) muscles. The hypodermal adipose tissue nurses and nourishes the dermal and the epidermal layers of the skin, facial expression muscles respond to nerve stimuli by contracting and folding the dermal tissue, and blood vessels supply oxygen and evacuate the metabolic waste.
In summary, skin health and appearance is greatly determined by the condition of its innermost component, the hypodermis.
Facial aging can be characterized by a progressive thinning of the hypoderm, including fat loss or lipoatrophy, resulting, among other morphological effects in substantial collapse of the facial volume especially at the level of the medial cheeks, also known as face hollowing. See, e.g., Gierloff, M., Stöhring, C., Buder, T., Gassling, V., Açil, Y., Wiltfang, J., Aging Changes of the Midfacial Fat Compartments: A Computed Tomographic Study, Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, 2012; 129: 263. In extreme cases, such as in some AIDS treatments, lipoatrophy can progress toward nearly complete subdermal facial fat loss. See, e.g., Coleman, S., Saboeiro, A. and Sengelmann, R., A Comparison of Lipoatrophy and Aging: Volume Deficits in the Face. Aesthetic, Plastic Surgery, 2009; 33, 14. The regression of hypodermis contributes not only to face hollowing and skin thinning, but also to wrinkles, because the skin loses its source of nutrition and regeneration, while being continuously subjected to fold-unfold cycles through the action of the facial expression muscles. Accordingly, some plastic surgery rejuvenation techniques involve the use of grafts of fat tissue. See, e.g., Fernandes, D, and Kaplan, H., Blepharoplasty Gets a Lift. Plastic Surgery Practice, January 2011 (www.plasticsurgerypractice.com/issues/articles/2011-01—03.asp).
Similarly, ageing can be characterized by an overall muscle loss or sarcopenia. In that regard, facial muscle mass augmentation can be desirable in order to maintain a youthful facial appearance. The term “augmentation” as used in the present invention relates to increase in the volume of soft tissue.
The delivery of suitable active cosmetic ingredients by topical application onto the epidermis, with or without iontophoresis or electroporation, and also by subcutaneous or intradermal injections is known in the art. Another known method of delivery of skin-beneficial cosmetics is via oral delivery, i.e., by ingestion. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,224,850 discloses examples of several routes of known cosmetic product applications. However, none of prior art of which we are aware addresses the benefits of intraoral application of cosmetics through a transmucosal route for direct interaction specifically with the hypoderm, and resulting in benefits including: decrease in the unattractive visibility of gums while smiling or laughing known as “gummy smile” through hypodermal muscle relaxation in the parafiltrum (skin between the nose and the upper lip); lip plumping through the vasodilatation of hypodermal vessels, swelling or sensory stimuli; cheek plumping through the support and augmentation (increase in volume) of the hypodermal adipose tissue and hypodermal muscles; smoother skin appearance through regenerative action on the hypodermis supporting hair follicles and their muscles; prevention of skin drying through the regenerative effect on hypodermal sebaceous glands; and improved appearance of facial wrinkles through hypodermal muscle relaxation, hypodermal adipose tissue augmentation or stimulation of adipokines, which support the extracellular matrix and basement membrane components of the skin.